Stabilizing of peg board hangers



June 5, 1962 D. B. ROMAN 3,037,732

STABILIZING OF PEG BOARD HANGERS Filed June 20, 1960 .1 vlllllllllln FIG-7 '0 INVENTOR. DONALD B. ROMAN ATTORNEYS United States Patent f 3,037,732 STABILIZING F PEG BOARD HANGERS Donald B. Roman, Lake Forest, Ill. (4540 Narragansett, Chicago 30, Ill.) Filed June 20, 1960, Ser. No. 37,316 7 Claims. (Cl. 248-423) This invention relates to the stabilizing of peg board hangers on the peg board.

Article supporting racks are commonly provided by the use of relatively rigid sheets of hard board or the like perforated in a regular grid-like pattern so that supporting hangers in the form of hooks or brackets may be secured in various locations on the board by engaging an anchoring element of the hanger with a selected perforation in the board. Hangers for such use with peg board take many diiferent forms and shapes that are determined primarily by the nature of the articles that are to be supported thereby. In a broad sense all or most of such hangers embody a vertically extended body with an article-support extending forwardly from the lower end of the body or from some intermediate point spaced downwardly from the upper end of the body, and at the upper end of the body anchoring means in the form of an anchoring hook is provided which may be inserted rearwardly through a selected perforation in the board in a known and well understood manner.

When thus mounted on a peg board, the body extends downwardly with respect to its interlocked or anchored upper end, and because the lower portions of the body bear against the forward face of the board, the projecting support may serve to carry the weight of an article placed on such support.

Hangers of the aforesaid character are usually made from a single length of wire having a diameter just slightly less than the diameter of the perforations in the peg board, and the anchoring means is formed by bending of the wire at one end, the support is formed by bending the wire to a hook-like or other suitable form at the other end of the wire, while an intermediate portion of the wire is left in straight form to provide the body of the hanger. conventionally this intermediate or body portion of the hanger has a length somewhat greater than the vertical spacing of the perforations.

In the use of hangers made from a single piece of wire as above described it has been found that when an article is put in place on or is removed from the hanger, the lower end of the hanger often shifts laterally across the forward face of the board, or away from the board. Such forward displacement of the lower portion of the hanger often disengages the hanger from the peg board. Such undesired displacement of the hangers has been considered objectionable to such an extent that various forms of stabilizers have been provided for connecting the lower portion of the body with the perforation that is located immediately below the perforation in which the upper end of the hanger is secured. In some instances the stabilizing means has taken the form of projecting lugs integral with the body of the hangers and adapted to extend into the lower perforation with a snug friction fit, while in other instances separately formed generally U-shaped fine wire clips have been provided to embrace the body of the hanger with the ends of the clips projected through the lower opening in the board and having a spring-like lateral engagement with the sides and rear edges of the perforation. Both types of conventional stabilizers have been considered to be objectionable in that when forward forces are applied to the support or hook, the stabilizer is disengaged from the lower perforation, and the user must thereupon re-engage the stabilizer with the board.

The present invention is concerned with stabilization ice of peg board hangers through the use of separately formed stabilizing means, and the primary object of the invention is to provide such a separately formed stabilizer by means of which the lower body portion of the hanger may be positively held against forward displacement with respect to the board.

Objects related to the foregoing are to provide such a stabilizer that may be readily and easily put in place in or removed from its operative relation; to provide such a stabilizer that may be made economically by conventional wire forming equipment; and to provide such a device that is adapted for use with most of the conventional peg board hangers.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims,

r and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which,

by way of illustration, show a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the principles thereof, and what is now considered to be the best mode in which to apply these principles. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a peg board and hanger with a stabilizer of the present invention associated therewith;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the stabilizer;

FIGS. 3 to 5 are vertical sectional views illustrating successive positions assumed by the stabilizer in the mounting of a hanger on a peg board;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the manner in which unlocking or releasing forces are applied to the stabilizer;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view showing an alternative form of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a view showing another alternative structure.

For purposes of disclosure the invention is herein illustrated as embodied in a stabilizer 10, FIG. 2, that is adapted for operative association with a conventional hanger ll in stabilizing such hanger 11 in its position of use on a peg board 12. Both the peg board 12 and the hanger 11 are of conventional form and construction, and cooperate basically in a conventional manner.

The peg board 12 is made from a relatively rigid sheet of material such as hard board, and is provided with a grid-like pattern of perforations 14 wherein the perforations are arranged in horizontal and vertical lines spaced equally from each other. The board 12 may be of the usual A; inch thickness with the perforations 14 being about inch in diameter and at a spacing of one inch.

The hanger 11 is shown as being formed from a single length of wire, to provide an elongated straight body 15 with a projecting support at its lower end in the form of a hook 116 and with anchoring means 17 at its upper end adapted to be engaged in an interlocking relation with any selected one of the perforations 14 of the board 12. Such anchoring means 17 are of conventional form and comprise a rearwardly extended shank 18 perpendicular to the body 15 and in the plane of the support or hook 16, and the shank 18 extends rearwardly for a distance slightly greater than the thickness of the board 12 and has a short upwardly projecting arm 17 at its rear end. Such a conventional hanger 11 is put in a selected position on a peg board 12 by inserting the arm 19 endwise and in a rearward direction through a selected one of the perforations 14, and the body 15 of the hanger is then swung downwardly through the succession of positions shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 to the final load supporting relation of FIGS. 1 and 5 wherein the upper end of the hanger 11 is interlocked with the board 12 by the anchoring means 17 and the body 15 of the hanger bears against the forward face of the board.

The stabilizer it) of the present invention is adapted for association with the body 15 of such a conventional hanger 11 and for cooperation with the peg board 12 to hold the body 15 of the hanger against lateral swinging movement about the axis of the shank 18 and also against forward displacement of the lower portion of the hanger 11 away from the forward face of the board 12.

The stabilizer of this invention is made so that it may be readily and easily associated with or put in its operative position on the body of a conventional hanger, such as the hanger 11, and when so positioned, may be inserted rearwardly into the lower one of two perforations 14 while the hanger 11 is being anchored in the upper one of the two perforations, and under this invention the stabilizer 10 interlocks positively with the rear face of the board 12 to prevent undesired forward displacement of the lower end of the hanger, and yet this positive interlock may be released quickly and easily when the hanger 11 is to be removed from the board 12.

The stabilizer 10 is formed from small diameter resilient wire to provide a rearwardly pointed locking head 20 defined by sections 21 of the wire that extend forwardly from a point or bend 22 so as to diverge at an angle of about or and are about inch long. At their remote or forward ends the sections 21 are bent at 23A inwardly or toward each other in a common plane, as will be evident in FIG. 2 so as to provide locking shoulders 23 facing in a forward direction.

At the adjacent ends of those portions of the wire that form the locking shoulders 23 the wire is bent forwardly to provide parallel shanks 24 having a length equal to the thickness of the board 12, and at the forward ends of the respective shanks 24, the wire is formed into mounting rings 25 that are adapted to encircle the body 15 of the hanger 11. The rings 25 are disposed in planes that are perpendicular to the plane defined by the portions 21 of the head 20, and the rings 25 have arms 26 formed respectively thereon so as to project in opposite directions for purposes that will appear presently.

The bend 22 in the locking head 20 is formed so that the resilience of the wire tends to widen the angle between the portions 21 of the head 20, and the rings 25 that are associated with the respective portions 21 are arranged in a reversed relation as will be evident in FIG. 2 so that the separating movement of the portions 21 is limited by engagement of the two rings 25 with one another. If added resilience is desired the bend 22 may be formed as a loop 122, FIG. 7, to give a torsion spring action.

The proportioning of the shoulders 23 with respect to the diar'neter of the perforations 14 is such that when the locking head 20 is forced rearwardly through a perforation 14, the portions 21 will be bent toward a smaller angle till the bends 23A are close enough together to pass through the perforation. When the bends 23A pass rearwardly out of the perforation 14, the resilience of the bend 22 and the portions 21 acts to shift the locking shoulders 23 radially outwardly with respect to the axis of the perforation 14 so that such locking shoulders 23 engage the rear surface of the board 12 with a positive locking action. The body 15 of the hanger 11 is therefore held positively against undesired forward displacement.

In FIGS. 3 to 5 the action of the stabilizer 10 in a hanger-mounting operation is illustrated, and it will be observed in FIG. 4 that when the bends 23A of the locking head 20 are passing through the perforation 14 the rings 25 are separated from each other. The characteristic which causes the rings 25 to be separated when the locking head 20 is accessible on the forward face of the peg board 12 and by manual separation of the rings 25, the stabilizer 10 may readily be released from its positive locking relationship. The oppositely projecting arms 26 facilitate such unlocking or release of the stabilizer, for as will be evident in FIGS. 2 and 6 of the drawings, separating forces may be applied by the thumb and forefinger to the respective arms 26 to release or withdraw the locking shoulders 23 for forward removal of the stabilizer 10 and the hanger 11. Where the space behind the peg board 12 is shallow, the anchoring head 20 may be bent laterally as at in FIG. 8.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the present invention provides a new and improved stabilizer for use with conventional peg board hangers, and through the use of the stabilizer of the present invention, the lower ends of such hangers may be held against undesired shifting movement parallel to the plane of the peg board or perpendicular to the plane of the peg board.

It will also be apparent that the present invention provides a stabilizer that is positive in its retaining or stabilizing action, and yet may be readily and easily released from the front of the peg board without the use of special tools. It will also be evident that the stabilizer of the present invention may be economically made by conventional wire forming equipment, and further that this stabilizer may be advantageously employed with most of the conventional peg board hangers.

Thus while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated herein, it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without depmting from the spirit and scope of the appending claims.

I claim:

1. In a stabilizer for use with peg board hangers of the type having a vertically elongated body with a rearwardly extending anchoring structure at the upper end of the body and a forwardly projecting article support at another location on the body, said stabilizer comprising a length of small diameter resilient wire having a pair of loops at the opposite ends of the wire adapted to snugly embrace the body of such a hanger, and the intermediate portion of the wire being formed to provide shanks adapted to extend rearwardly from the respective loops through a perforation in a peg board, said shanks at their rear ends being bent in opposite directions at right angles to the loops to provide locking shoulders for engagement with the rear face of a peg board, and the wire at the ends of the locking shoulders being formed to provide rearwardly converging portions joined integrally in a bend that provides an entry point for inserting the rear ends of the stabilizer into a perforation in a peg board.

2. A stabilizer according to claim 1 wherein the respective loops have arms projecting therefrom in opposite directions.

3. A positively locking stabilizer of the character described, adapted for use with a peg board hanger and comprising length of resilient wire formed near its midpoint to provide rearwardly pointed anchoring head with forwardly diverging sides defined by sloping portions of the wire and terminating in inwardly bent portions of the wire extending parallel to each other and defining forwardly facin locking shoulders, said inwardly bent portions then being bent forwardly to provide parallel shanks, and said shanks having aligned loops at their forward ends adapted to snugly embrace the body of a peg board hanger for use in stabilizing the hanger and the respective loops having arms formed thereon and extending in opposite directions therefrom.

4. A positively locking stabilizer of the character described comprising length of resilient wire formed near its midpoint to provide rearwardly pointed anchoring head with forwardly diverging sides defined by sloping portions of the wire and terminating in inwardly bent portions of the wire extending parallel to each other and defining rearwardly facing locking shoulders, said inwardly bent portions being then bent forwardly to provide parallel shanks, said shanks having aligned loops at their forward ends adapted to slidably and snugly embrace the body of a peg board hanger for use in stabilizing the hanger.

5. In a stabilizer for use with peg board hangers of the type having a vertically elongated body with a rearwardly extending anchoring structure at the upper end of the body and a forwardly projecting article support at another location on the body, said stabilizer comprising a length of small diameter resilient wire formed to provide a pair of loops at the opposite ends of the wire and adapted to snugly embrace the body of such a hanger, and the intermediate portion of the wire being formed to provide shanks adapted to extend rear-wardly from the respective loops through a perforation in a peg board, and shanks at their rear ends being bent in opposite directions at right angles to the loops to provide locking shoulders, each of which extends past the shank on which the other locking shoulder is formed, and the wire at the outer ends of the locking shoulders being for-med to provide rearwardly converging portions joined integrally in a bend that provides an entry point for inserting the rear end of the stabilizer into a perforation in a peg board, said converging portions and said bend being tensioned to normally maintain said loops in engagement with each other.

6. A stabilizer according to claim 4 in which the sloping portions defining the sides of the anchoring head are joined by an integral loop constituting a torsion spring means.

7. A stabilizer according to claim 4 wherein the anchoring head is curved laterally to reduce the eifective rear- Ward extension of the head when the stabilizer is in its position of use.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,387,912 Smith Aug. 16, 1921 1,680,723 Bloom Aug. 14, 1928 2,068,932 Quarnstrom Jan. 26, 1937 2,961,724 Alling Nov. 29, 1960 

